My cousin took a ride there yesterday. The water is still way down. From what he told me, it sounded like someone with a kayak or canoe could walk out using the small stream that flows in front of and thru the launch area and get to open water. Unless we get a whole lot of rain soon, we probably won't be able to launch a boat there until later this year, or possibly not until next year. Great job state.
still down a good 10 feet. I will post if it looks like you can launch here. I will say that the construction company did a nice job on the dam repairs. Please remember we had very little rain after the repairs were completed.
still down a good 10 feet. I will post if it looks like you can launch here. I will say that the construction company did a nice job on the dam repairs. Please remember we had very little rain after the repairs were completed.
Took a ride to check out the Bashan launch, sign at the access road says launch is closed. The new ramp is very nice, two lane concrete ribbed ramp, Jersey barriers to direct traffic and provide parking area for cars only. Large concrete dock along the lake side of the ramp and half the lot is paved.
Bad news, the channel to the main lake is still down 4-5 feet with even some dry spots. I'm no weather expert on snow and rain fall, but I can't see how this launch will even be ready to use next season. Will that mean bigger fish or just another CT lake with stunted growth finned swimmers?
Too bad. Although from what I can tell, it seems as if the fish have been stunted for some time. I've been there a handful of times and I get decent numbers, although everything is that typical Bashan 12" cookie cutter. However I'm determined to catch a decent fish out of that place once the water level gets to navigable depths.
Bashan Lake is somewhat of an anomaly in the area. A deeper, noticeably more clearly than anything surrounding it for several towns, its maximum depth and average depth, coupled with the general moderation of weed growth comparatively speaking make it puzzling as to why more fish and more sizable fish aren't taken from the lake. The smallmouth bass population is almost non-existent as far as I am concerned. Unless something drastic has changed in the last 7 or 8 years, I have never personally caught a keeper smallmouth bass out of that Lake, having lived up the street from it for a decade. For comparison I have caught three keeper smallmouth bass in Moodus Reservoir.
I have landed bass in excess of five pounds out of the lake, and as younger men Cobra bait and I fished the lake a few times together, and I watched him put on quite a clinic on a few occasions using smaller worms and lighter line than I had ever fished with. At least among the people I knew he was fishing small slider style worms well before I had never thought to do so. My lone 5 pound bass out of the lake came on a bright blue bird Sky day at about 1 o'clock fishing off the largest island with a Zara puppy. It was possibly the most foolish bait I could have chosen at the time and yet landed me a beautiful fish. It was among the only fish I caught that day.
It's the kind of like you'd love to see the state actively manage, but unfortunately we are hamstrung financially and the mindset in Connecticut is not as such to do so.
However, if the Phantom stocker still exist, or if he ever existed, this would be the kind of place that could benefit from him greatly. The start would have to be a bait fish population, and then immediately after that several thousand smallmouth bass.